SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY: Calm Jones will recruit wisely in January sales

Dom Howson
Sheffield Wednesday

MEL Sterland is backing Sheffield Wednesday manager Dave Jones to bring in the extra firepower required to get the club out of trouble.

It is no secret Jones wants to bolster his attacking options after watching the Owls fire three successive blanks in all competitions. Over the weekend, Wednesday were linked with a loan move for Swansea City striker Leroy Lita.

Although the team have rectified their defensive deficiencies by recording five clean sheets in the last six matches, goals have been hard to come by all season for Wednesday, who are third-from-bottom in the Championship with 20 matches remaining.

But former Owls right-back Sterland is confident Jones will recruit the players needed during the January transfer window to lead the side to safety.

“Dave is the man for the job,” he told The Star. “He has never experienced anything like this (a relegation battle) before. He is used to sides pushing for promotion.

“But he is a great guy and I am sure he will get the club back to where it belongs and the chairman has stuck by him. The main aim now is to stay in this division.

“I am sure Dave will not be panicking. He will know what players he wants.

“This is a massive month for fetching in players. Everybody wants forwards who can score goals and that is the priority. It is about what you can afford and making sure you get the players in who are better than what you have got. There is no point in signing new players for the sake of it.”

Wednesday, Charlton Athletic and Huddersfield Town are all languishing in the bottom half of the table, having gained promotion to the second tier last term. Sterland says the league is “crackers”.

“It is a really hard one to get out of,” he acknowledged. “If you go on a run, you quickly move up a few places.

“We beat Bolton away and no one would have predicted that. The Championship is crackers. Anything can happen. If you are not switched on from the first minute at this level, you get punished.”

Jones is looking to freshen things up at Hillsborough but Sterland says the existing members of his squad must up their performances if the club is to stave off the threat of relegation.

He said: “Dave knows what the players can produce and now it is up to them to step up and be counted. They have to start delivering.”

Despite being held at home to League One promotion hopefuls MK Dons in the third round of the FA Cup last Saturday, Sterland sees no reason why Wednesday can’t edge the replay in a week’s time.

He said: “I still think they have got a great chance of progressing. MK Dons are a good footballing side but we certainly can compete and match them. The beauty of the cup is you never know what can happen.”